Tech —

Maker Faire UK 2016: Low-tech high-tech futuristic fun for all the family

Enlarge/ Many stands were showing 3D extrusion printers, such as this Vertex model from Velleman

Adam Banks

Cutting edge

The plastic rabbit is 3D-printed, of course. On dozens of stands, fused deposition modelling machines fidget away at architectural miniatures, and stellated polyhedra. You need a two-day event to get them finished. Tipped for the mainstream since forever, the likes of Ultimaker—the prevailing brand here—feel almost ready for it. But 2016, it turns out, is the year of the laser cutter. Last autumn, Glowforge crowdfunded £18.5 million (~$27 million) for its hipster adaptation of a 40-watt CO2 machine, starting at £1,670 ($2,395), plus shipping. The buzz was immediate, but delivery is still months away. Other makers aren’t waiting.

Enlarge/ Relatively affordable machines are getting more sophisticated, but they’re far from foolproof

Adam Banks

Rather than building up solid forms, these units cut shapes out of flat sheets of wood or acrylic, or burn poker-work patterns into the surface. Drawing in 2D is simpler for users than constructing 3D models, and plywood and perspex are sturdier than soapy plastic. The practical advantages are obvious across the show floor: everything from my press badge to many of the exhibits is laser-cut. Closing the circle, Theo Lasers is showing a laser cutter built from laser-cut panels, which it plans to crowdfund soon.

"Planning to crowdfund soon" is a theme. Dominic Morrow and Martin Raynsford have sold affordable laser hardware for years through their company Just Add Sharks, but they’ve now "basically taken apart one of our £3,000 cutters and rebuilt it" to get the price down to a target of £1,000. That means it can be "for one person; not a hackspace," Dominic tells me.

CO2 cutters generate a photon beam in a glass tube filled with carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen, and helium, bouncing it off a Heath Robinson array of mirrors onto the work piece. Keeping the tube and the moving head aligned requires a heavy, rigid chassis. Just Add Sharks’ Vanillabox concept avoids the issue by resiting the tube on an aluminium gantry that scans with the head. It’s one of a number of new designs taking this approach.

Enlarge/ Vanillabox is a concept for a stripped-down cutter based on a CO2 laser on a moving gantry

Adam Banks

Reducing the cost has meant ditching the fancy features of rivals, they admit, but the 35-watt unit will be complete and ready to run from open-source Windows, Mac, and Linux software. Users just need to connect the vent on the back, like a tumble dryer outlet, to the open air: that doesn’t change the results, but reduces the likelihood of, well, death, at least if you’re careful with the laser. "We find there are people who want to make stuff with the machine, and people who want to make the machine," says Dominic, so it’s likely to be offered both ready-built and in kit form.

Theo Lasers’ system, run from an Arduino Mega board, uses a laser with less than a tenth of the power, and can cut only thin sheets using multiple passes that take "hours rather than minutes" for most jobs. The benefit is that its lines, as I’m shown on the stand, are extremely precise.

Parts designed for an interference fit, slotting together like traditional joinery, don’t require tolerances; finely detailed patterns can be cut; and both vector and raster designs can be engraved at high resolution, making it easy to burn photos onto plywood. CO2 cuts look fuzzy by comparison. And the machine can work off a 12-volt battery, making it suitable for use where mains power isn’t available. Bringing tech to where it couldn’t go before is very Maker.

The Wall of Enlightenment was one of several makeshift giant multi-LED displays

Adam Banks

Vanillabox is a concept for a stripped-down cutter based on a CO2 laser on a moving gantry

Adam Banks

Relatively affordable machines are getting more sophisticated, but they’re far from foolproof

Adam Banks

Low energy

While a gaggle of graduate students watch, a teenager steers a handheld device over a doll encased in transparent gel. It’s not a VR experience, but a low-cost ultrasound sensor prototyped by Newcastle University’s School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Reducing the manufacturing cost to £30-40 has taken some hacker-style ingenuity, building in a USB-powered motor to scan using a single transducer instead of an array. It’s already under trial for obstetric use in developing countries. "That’s weird," pronounces the tester, as her inexpert pummelling somehow musters a legible image of the fake baby. Good weird.

There’s plenty more here to fill a day. A mirror that reads your emotions by facial analysis using Microsoft’s Cognitive APIs; PiKon, the 3D-printed, Raspberry Pi-driven astronomical telescope; Helen Schell’s SUN-Dress for the Yellow Giantess, an oversized ball-gown that changes its colours when photographed with flash; flying drones, naturally, in all shapes and sizes.

Steve Upton’s 2,048-LED Wall of Enlightenment, the greatest way to play Space Invaders on a Pi; Archie the 3D-printable, scratch-programmable football-playing robot; Newcastle Maker Space’s mesmerising Penguin Race; and, behind a 10-metre liquid fuel rocket that would have flown to 118km had it not caught fire during an engine test in 2014, Copenhagen Suborbitals, 50 Danish enthusiasts who plan to launch the first amateur manned mission—one day.

For me, the most fun at the Faire is often the lowest-tech. Jason Lane’s Mechanical Sound Sculpture plays its rhythmic cacophony of honks and clangs without the aid of silicon. Self-balancing motorbike-wheeled unicycles are cooler than any so-called hoverboard. And there’s an irresistible fascination to Nick Sayers’ giant pantographs, which trace around bodies at the size of your hand, and hands at the size of your body.

Maybe it’s because, as a tech journalist, I’m tired of another touchscreen app being the answer to everything. For all its sideshow mummery, Maker Faire is full of refreshingly unfettered thoughts about human-machine interaction. Or maybe I’m just a man in a shed at heart.

Well, this surely is Pingu on speed

Maker Faire UK 2016 was held at the International Centre for Life, Newcastle upon Tyne, on 23-24 April. For details of next year’s event, keep an eye on Maker Faire's website.

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Adam Banks is a freelance writer, designer, and editorial producer. He was previously editor-in-chief at MacUser magazine. Adam lives in Newcastle upon Tyne.